The Olifant Mk1A is a South African main battle tank (MBT) that represents an extensive upgrade of the British Centurion tank. The development of the Olifant series began in the 1970s as South Africa sought to modernize its aging Centurion fleet to meet the demands of...
The Ural-375 is a highly capable Soviet-designed 4.5-ton 6×6 multi-purpose military truck that saw widespread tactical deployment in Angola. It served as a primary heavy logistics and weapons platform during the Angolan Civil War and subsequent regional conflicts....
Hamaambo finally went into exile in 1962 through Bechuanaland (now Botswana) and into Tanganyika (now Tanzania). From Tanzania, Hamaambo went for military training in newly independent Algeria and later the Soviet Union before becoming Second Deputy Army Commander of...
The following account narrates the downing of a Cuban helicopter with 15 people on board, commanded by pilot Emilio González Rivas, on May 17, 1978, Negage, in a confrontation with the FNLA. Commanding a pair of Mi-8 helicopters, we arrived in the afternoon at the...
Omar Gastón Caballero (Cruces, May 13, 1954). He committed suicide in an unspecified location in Angola on April 30, 1984. He was a member of the Communist Youth and spent 10 months in Angola before taking his own life.
Venancio Goyes Torres (Torriente, Matanzas, 30.10.68). He committed suicide in Angola on 5.10.88, after 22 months of being in the war (he had arrived on 23.12.86).
In March 1991, Major Orestes Lorenzo defected to the US in a MiG-23BN. A year later, he entered Cuba in a small plane and picked up his wife and two children, evading Cuban air defenses.
Juan Olivares Horta – one of the first group of Cuban pilots to fly MiG-23MLs into combat in August-September 1985. Historical aviation records frequently tie the Olivares Horta family name to a famous international incident in Angola. On August 7, 1988, a...
The "Wonga Coup" (2004): In March 2004, Du Toit was arrested in Equatorial Guinea alongside several other former 32 Battalion members. He was accused of leading an advance party for a failed coup d'état aimed at overthrowing President Teodoro Obiang.Black Beach...
A raw, darkly humorous memoir that follows one conscript’s chaotic journey through South Africa’s military machine during the border war. Drafted into the Defence Force in 1977 as a carefree seventeen-year-old, Jon Goetzsche’s tranquil schooldays were abruptly...
Known as the 'Flying Cheetahs', 2 (Transvaal) Squadron was formed at Waterkloof in January 1939 with the Hawker Hartbees. Redesignated as a fighter/bomber unit, the squadron spent the year training, but was renumbered as 12 Squadron in December 1939. The squadron was...
Jean-Michel Caffin is a former military officer and current business executive who served in the Rhodesian Security Forces and South African Special Forces